orwellseyes:

nickdouglas:

And the gaping maw of hell opens for more hipster souls.

saramcpherson:

(For those of you who haven’t yet experienced the magic of searching the Harper’s Index, it goes like this: Enter search term.  Get stats.)

• Chances that a harpist has back problems: 3 in 4
• Chances that a member of the thrash-metal band Anthrax lives with his parents: 2 in 5
• Number of the 12 employees at Hawaii’s last ukulele factory who are hearing-impaired: 5
• Pairs of jeans that Frank Sinatra has ever owned in his life: 0
• Number of CAT scans a Minneapolis radiologist performed last year on violins: 10 
• Number of Grateful Dead concerts attended by columnist Ann Coulter: 67
• Minimum number of songs sold on Apple’s online music store that consist entirely of silence: 291 (As of 2005)
• Percentage of Britons who cannot name the city that provides the setting for the musical Chicago: 65
• Chances that a hip-hop fan has had five or more sexual partners in the last five years, according to a U.K. study: 2 in 5.  Chance that a country-music fan has: 1 in 67

(all stats from Harper’s Index)

Note to self: less Neil Young, more Public Enemy.

1. Great Lake Swimmers (4) 
2. The Shins (4) 
3. Yeasayer (3) 
4. Fleet Foxes (3) 
5. Bon Iver (3) 

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

munchme:

Hitler finds out Michael Jackson has died

Meanwhile, down at the O2 Arena Insurance Department…

Hugely inappropriate but also very, very funny.

missdorothy:

starxo:

icanread:

(via hardlyinventive → joa1004)

Ctrl+z would be more useful.  And, yes, Life does appear to be Windows-based.

Jon Ronson on The Alpha Course

In which, Dr Paisley finally speaks some semblance of sense.

Went to see Neil Young in Hyde Park yesterday.  It was pretty damned excellent all round (about half of Harvest, a bit of Harvest Moon, Cinnamon Girl, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Fuckin’ Up, Down By The River yada yada yada…) but the real novelty was Paul McCartney appearing during an encore of A Day In The Life.  Even for someone who’s not a fan of The Beatles in general (and Macca in particular) it felt special.  Apparently it’s the first time they’ve appeared on stage together too.

meaghano:

We are a bi-monthly anthology of short fiction. We select stories charged with wit and emotional gravity right from the first sentence. You choose how you want to read them. We deliver content in every viable medium.

This is very exciting. As my friend Ted said, “E-revival of the short story has begun.”

I love this, and find it to be very true:

The short story is uniquely suited to our age.

A.O. Scott said recently in the New York Times, “The blog post and the tweet may be ephemeral … but the culture in which they thrive is fed by a craving for more narrative.”

By publishing gripping narratives from America’s best contemporary writers and embracing new forms of distribution, we hope to facilitate a renaissance of the short story.

Thank Jesus.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Ulysses, Madam Bovary… these books were banned because they could subvert society. How? Again, by revealing life’s possibilities, expanding consciousness, and exploding social norms. We want to re-introduce the idea that reading can be dangerous.

Wee! Check out their website. I am sort of tentatively thrilled.

OH YEAH PS THEY PAY $1K DOLLARS A STORY. Every line on their Submit page reads to be written by God Himself:

No Submission Fees
We pay writers, they don’t pay us. We are proud to support writers who entrust us with their work.

No Contests
Every other month, we select five stories for publication. Each writer receives $1,000. This is a payment, not a prize. We value writing, we know how hard it is, and we believe writers are entitled to fair compensation.

No Cover Letters
We don’t need to see your resume. All we care about is the story.

Grab Us
We are looking for work with a strong voice which hooks us in the first paragraph and doesn’t let go until the final sentence.